Adopting a Seminarian

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Have you done this? What do you do for him?

Seminarians, what would you like folks in your diocese to do for you?

Our local diocesan newspaper does a great job of keeping us updated on our seminarians, but we would like to be personally involved in encouraging one of these young men.
 
Lots2Learn said:
Have you done this? What do you do for him?

Seminarians, what would you like folks in your diocese to do for you?

Our local diocesan newspaper does a great job of keeping us updated on our seminarians, but we would like to be personally involved in encouraging one of these young men.
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I’m a member of the Knights Of Columbus, and our council adopts a seminarian from our diocese.

We mostly provide him with tuition assistance and money for other needs if it’s needed. In our council, the seminarian is provided with a check at our annual Christmas party. He’s also invitited to any of our functions, and we try and make him feel at home with us. The K of C overall is a huge supporter of the Church, the Pope and it’s priests and seminarians, and we’re well known for giving a very sizable amount of money and support to them.

It’s one of the things that make me feel good about being a Knight!🙂
 
I am trying to organize our parish to send our seminarians for our diocese a few comforts here and there - gift cards to restaraunts, movies, cookies from the parish bakesale (ship 'em priority mail in a good rubbermade container, they get there fresh, the seminarian then has a nice container too!)

I firmly believe that every parish in every diocese should send a Christmas and an Easter card to their seminarians. If there are 15 seminarians, and 120 parishes, each of the 15 should get 120 Christmas and 120 Easter cards. If half the parishses wanted to put a $5, 10, or $20 bill in there, TRUST ME, they would appreciate having some spending money for books, shoes, socks, t-shirts, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deoderant, underwear, haircuts, gas money, car insurance…

You get the idea.

When I was in the seminary a family I never met that belonged to a parish I never had visited in a county I had never been in sent me cards for the holidays and every so often with a note saying they were praying for me and a $10 bill.

You can’t imagine how welcome that is.

So call your vocations director and find out the names of the seminarians and the seminary they attend. Then get started.

Those looking to adopt overseas seminarians can contact some of the following:

Catholic Near East Welfare Association

Apostles of Jesus (in Africa)

or the Cardinal Kung Foundation listed below in my signature for Chinese priests and seminarians.

SUPPORT YOUR PRIESTS AND SEMINARIANS. PRAY FOR THEM.

(And don’t be hesitant to ask them to pray for you!)
 
actually the Altar Society ladies just got back from a shopping trip for the seminarians, bought sheets, towels and other linens on sale. we gave them blankets last year, don’t know what they do to the linens but the needed more.

most surrounding parishes also send them free tickets to any function that involves a meal, like socials and pot-lucks, because they are big guys to feed.

the diocese has several fundraisers, one is the bishop’s annual dinner, another is a jamaica (what we would call a fall festival up north, picnic with games and prizes).

there is another group that buys warm jackets, hats and gloves when we send our guys up north to Ohio or Illinois, pobrecitos!
 
Thanks for the great ideas and links.

We are thinking about adopting someone from our own diocese. I’m a recent convert, so I’m not entirely sure how it works. I’m assuming the young men that lived in our diocese and are now in seminary are going to return and be priests here as well.

What we are planning to do is, pray for “our” seminarian, send him letters, (we homeschool, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for my kids to ask questions), send him small gifts and because he is not in our state during his studies, to visit with him when he is home.

My 9 year old has said off and on for the past year or so, that he wants to be a priest, so I would like him to see from a young age what that involves.
 
Lots2Learn said:
Thanks for the great ideas and links.

We are thinking about adopting someone from our own diocese. I’m a recent convert, so I’m not entirely sure how it works. I’m assuming the young men that lived in our diocese and are now in seminary are going to return and be priests here as well.

What we are planning to do is, pray for “our” seminarian, send him letters, (we homeschool, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for my kids to ask questions), send him small gifts and because he is not in our state during his studies, to visit with him when he is home.

My 9 year old has said off and on for the past year or so, that he wants to be a priest, so I would like him to see from a young age what that involves.
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Contact your diocesan vocations director (you can probably find that by googling “Vocations director diocese of _______”) and tell him what you would like to do. I bet he would be thrilled.
 
Lots2Learn said:
Seminarians, what would you like folks in your diocese to do for you?
QUOTE]
  1. Pray for us. We need every single prayer, and they do more good than anyone could possibly know.
  2. Support vocations. We are extremely encouraged when we see other men following God’s call, and a big part of that is due to vocation support on behalf of the lay people. Letting men know if someone thinks they would make a good priest is a great way to do this.
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Our bishop has called for a year of prayer for vocations. We pray as a community at each Mass:
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Heavenly Father,
bless our diocese with the grace
of many vocations to the priesthood
and religious life.
Through the intercession
of Our Lady of Perpetual Help,
grant to those you have called
the willingness and generosity of spirit
to give themselves in devoting their lives
and their talents to the service
of our Lord and to his Church.
Increase the faith of all within our diocese,
and particularly the faith
of those you have called
and will continue to call
to serve your people.
Help each of us be good stewards
of the gift of our vocation.
We ask this through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Money is always nice. They feed us pretty well at my seminary, but I wouldn’t turn down food either. 🙂

But the most important thing you can do for a seminarian is pray for him. Pray, pray, pray. Have Masses offered for him. Say the Rosary for him. Offer your Holy Hours for him.

And when you’re done praying for him, pray some more. 😃 I can tell you that academics are just one of the battles we fight in seminary. The doubts that assail us everyday are sometimes overwhelming. At first, I thought it was just me, but talking to the other guys, it seems to be a common problem.

So, the bottom line is: PRAY! And thanks for all you do for seminarians. It really does mean a lot.
 
Seminarian_Tim said:
Lots2Learn;3192148:
Seminarians, what would you like folks in your diocese to do for you?
QUOTE]
  1. Pray for us. We need every single prayer, and they do more good than anyone could possibly know.
  2. Support vocations. We are extremely encouraged when we see other men following God’s call, and a big part of that is due to vocation support on behalf of the lay people. Letting men know if someone thinks they would make a good priest is a great way to do this.
Click to expand...
I cannot stress enough how important these two things are. Pray that we may grow in holiness and keep Christ at the head of our lives. If you know someone whom you think would make a good priest or religious, TELL THEM! They need to hear it! If it wasn’t for a priest and others who told me repeatedly that I should consider priesthood, I might never have entered the seminary. Gifts of money, phone cards, and food are always very much appreciated, but the most gratifying gifts I’d received were the cards in which someone had a Mass offered for my vocation.
Click to expand...
 
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